Ohio State has brought in two people to help the football team stay in compliance with NCAA rules, hopefully avoiding a scandal like the one that forced out coach Jim Tressel, above.Marvin Fong, Plain Dealer file photo

No. 6 Ohio State at Wisconsin

Kickoff: 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium, Madison, Wis.

TV/radio: WEWS Channel 5; WKNR AM/850.

Notable: OSU (10-0, 6-0 Big Ten) and Wisconsin (7-3, 4-2) have turned this series into one of the best in the Big Ten. Banned from the Big Ten title game and the postseason, the best the Buckeyes can hope for is to go undefeated. Wisconsin, meanwhile, wants to prove it didn't get into the Big Ten championship by default. Montee Ball is two touchdowns shy of breaking the major-college career record, and he would love nothing more than to reach the mark in his last game at Camp Randall Stadium. Watch to see how Ohio State DE John Simon and DL Johnathan Hankins will try to knot things up in the middle to force Ball outside the tackles. OSU coach Urban Meyer is 32-2 when having more than a week to prepare for a game. The Buckeyes were off last week.

Next for OSU: Oct. 24 vs. Michigan, noon.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Meet the new guy tucked into an office in the heart of the Ohio State football building, ready to answer any compliance questions that a coach might have. And meet the former Buckeye talking to area businesses and showing up for 5 a.m. football workouts to show the players that he's committed.

Meet them and care who they are, even right before Saturday's big game with Wisconsin, because Brad Bertani and Jason Singleton could help Ohio State football win a national championship.

"I don't think they'll invite us up to hold the crystal trophy on the stage after the game," Bertani said. "But if they view us as part of the team, that's a better working relationship."

Staying out of trouble is now as vital to a team's title hopes as covering kickoffs or getting off the field on third down.

The Plain Dealer earlier in the football season requested Ohio State's NCAA violations from mid-April through mid-September, and the school recently provided 27 secondary violations, including six regarding the football team.

But all the violations were minor and accepted by Ohio State as part of its culture of reporting even minor infractions.

But if you don't think Bertani and Singleton, the two most important hires among the seven new additions made to the OSU compliance staff in the wake of the Buckeyes' NCAA sanctions, are part of the title chase, just ask yourself -- can Ohio State play for a title this season?

The Buckeyes' new compliance plan was part of the school's reaction to its NCAA problems and was outlined in an 805-page document delivered to the NCAA in August. In practicality, it's a simple act of self-interest that puts boots on the ground in the building. Before the NCAA issues, Ohio State did not have a compliance officer in the football building or specifically assigned to only the school's largest sport.

In the new world, and with a new football staff, Athletic Director Gene Smith said it was a necessary, and easy, change to make.

"I requested that," coach Urban Meyer said. "I wanted a guy right with us. When you have a rulebook that big, you have a million different questions, and he's been right there and he's been fantastic. I think you need a guy right in the building with you. I don't want any issues. Even small issues."

If compliance used to be those annoying guys from the office across the street who came in to give talks about not taking money every few months, this is far more proactive. The education of athletes is more frequent, and in smaller, more digestible chunks. And, theoretically, the setup is far more able to nip in the bud issues with tattoo parlors or overpayment for jobs or money handed out at charity events, all things that helped get Ohio State banned from a bowl this season.

"It gives us a much better chance," Smith told The Plain Dealer. "I feel really good about where we're going and very comfortable that we put in a better system."

The new plan is a lot about developing relationships and a bit about a presence. It's being a part of the program and policing it at the same time -- brother and Big Brother.

It's Bertani's "revolving door" of an office, located alongside the recruiting director and football operations director, where coaches can get questions answered with a quick walk down the hall rather than waiting for an email; it's Bertani, who led the entire compliance department at Tennessee before he came to Ohio State to focus on football, going to every Thursday football staff meeting; it's Bertani being able to note who comes and goes in the building and asking "Who's that?" if he sees someone he doesn't know in the hallway.

"To know everyone around the program is valuable for a compliance staff as well," said Bertani, who along with Singleton and compliance head Doug Archie met with The Plain Dealer this week. "Coaches and student-athletes over the years know that compliance is part of the deal, and that you'll either have them working with you or against you. We are there to help you and want to help prevent you putting yourself in a bad position or ruining your college experience."

It's Singleton's past as a Buckeye, having graduated as a captain of the basketball team in 1999, and his relative youth making him more able to relate to current players than anyone else on the compliance staff; it's his recent experience as an NCAA investigator letting him sniff out rumors, as he views himself as a "firefighter" looking for the smoke that can turn into compliance fires by thinking like the NCAA thinks; it's going to football practice or basketball practice, telling the Buckeyes he can still beat them in one-on-one, and establishing the trust that may lead to a player who knows of an issue coming to him first.

"If a guy comes in with a new tattoo, he may give you more information that way than if they just view you as the police," Singleton said. "Developing better relationships with the players makes them more willing to tell us information."

John Infante, a former Division I compliance director who now writes about NCAA issues, called putting a compliance administrator in the football building potentially higher risk, but with the chance for a higher reward. He said the official would need to assist the program, and not just police it, but at the same time, care needed to be taken that the football staff wasn't able to "flip" the compliance official. That would take someone with a strong enough personality to hold his own.

Bertani agreed, and said he fits the bill.

"I don't think you could put a new person in there," Bertani said. "You have to go through the meat grinder. In any football program, it's high intensity and people are moving fast and they want answers now. And you have to be able to tell them, 'no,' and explain why and be confident about it."

While interacting more, Ohio State also is taking in more information. The compliance office now takes photos of every player's vehicle and vehicle registration. Singleton does a sweep of the players' parking lot at home games and notes the cars that are new or not registered. Bertani, focusing on one sport, can monitor employment and charity events and financial aid and who gets tickets from the players more closely.

Compliance officers also are now on the sideline at every football game, and they accompany the football team and men's and women's basketball teams on every road trip. Singleton and Archie are headed to Wisconsin. They won't help the Buckeyes beat the Badgers. But they can help those wins count for more in the future, by staying close, lending a hand and keeping a watchful eye.

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